Far Cry 2

The Good
The sequel to 2004’s PC smash hit Far Cry. Far Cry 2, is a different beast. It has little to nothing to do with the original game. And it is a freeform game, or sandbox game if you prefer. But will such a system work for a FPS?

Heart Of Darkness

In Far Cry 2, you play as a mercenary. Whom you get to choose. I picked this badass looking Indian dude. You are sent to a war torn and unnamed area of Africa. And not unlike the protagonist in Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness, you mission is to kill an arms dealer, no, not Col. Kurtz, your target is known only as The Jackal.

You take jobs from either the APR of the UFLL. Two faction vying for control of the region. You can also take work from both. Along the way you meet many people all who seek to use you. But that’s cool as you only goal is to kill the Jackal. Not everyone is Far Cry 2, is out to use you. You will meet others, mercs like yourself. They will be your buddies. And serve a multitude of functions. They can come to your aid when you are in trouble. They can also help you on a job. If they get into trouble, you can help them. Or if they have wounds to severe, you can put them out of their misery. Or you can be a dick and abandon them.

There are also, special “buddy-missions”. In these scenarios, you go and do a job for a buddy. Which increases your reputation, in the game world. And it increases your buddies view of you.

There is a lot to do in Far Cry 2. Aside from the main missions. You can work for the weapons dealer. And destroy convoys. Thus unlocking new weapons to purchase. And there are lots of real, weapons. Which you even must keep in good shape, or they will jam, and possibly explode. You can also take assassination jobs. Upon finding satellite towers, you receive a phone call, from a creepy sounding guy, giving you the coordinates of your target. The job pays diamonds upon completion of the job.(The currency of choice in Far Cry 2.-MM-) These are the most fun side-jobs in the game. In one such scenario, I had to sneak into town and kill my target. Of course towns and villages are cease-fire zones. So, I snuck up into a bell-tower. And pulled out my Dragnov. And making like Chow Yun Fat, I killed the target. And then had to escape. As the entire militia was after me. Not all of the hit man jobs are this dramatic. In some cases you just have to kill your target in a secluded area, or blow up his vehicle.

Not all the danger in Far Cry 2, comes from enemies. As earlier upon your arrival, you contract malaria. You are given pills to keep your symptoms in check. When you are running low, you can take jobs for the underground. In these you must deliver, travel papers, in exchange for medicine. Thus you get to continue living, and you also get to save some poor refugees. It’s a win-win situation.

“I bless the rains down in Africa, Gonna take the time to do the things we never had…”-Toto, Africa

Aside from all the missions, you can spend and probably will, spend a lot of time just exploring. While exploring, you can find diamonds, your GPS, will lead you to them, as it blinks more fiercely the closer you get. You can also find recordings of the Jackal. Which can be given to a reporter. You can also unlock safe-houses. Here you can rest, save, and replenish your supplies. The area you explore is huge, so going on foot would take too long. Luckily, there are many vehicles, to be used. Cars, SUV’s Jeeps with gun turrets, go-karts, and many boats as well. Unfortunately there are no flying vehicles. You can also scout out all guard posts. This will let you know what kind of things can be found there. There are many different regions to see. From deserts, to swaps and jungles. This game actually reminds me of Oblivion. Even more than Fallout 3 did. It is also very long. Consider that most first person shooters only take 10-20 hours to complete. Far Cry 2, took me some 47 hours. Of course, I did just about all the missions, and explored most if not all of Africa.

The graphics are very good. All the people, places, and things look great in Far Cry 2. As one would expect. The lighting effects are amazing. And the attention to detail is outstanding. Say, for example, that you have a flamethrower. As you burn down your foes, you are bound to catch the trees and grass on fire. When you do it burns, and chars. The combat is visceral. Partially when dressing wounds. When you have a serious wound, you can bleed to death if not treated. When, you heal, your avatar will either bandage his wounds, or pull out the bullet with pliers. Or in some cases rip it out with his teeth.

There is also wild life to be seen in Far Cry 2. No lions, or anything like that. But you will see gazelles, water buffalo, and zebra. The game is just gorgeous. From the days, to the moon-lit nights. Either on standard of high definition, both look great.

The music and sound are good also. From, the African music, to the sounds of fire-arms, and wild-life. And how could I forget the great voice acting? All the characters sound great. And have accents from were ever they are from. For example, my Chinese, buddy had a think mandarin accent. The chatter of enemies if interesting as well. While I was attacking I heard them say, “How many are there?” “I think it’s just one man..” Great stuff.

The Bad
Far Cry 2, is far from a perfect game.(You could say it’s a Far Cry!-MM-) First off all. You fight way too much. This may seem, strange, considering that this is a FPS. But I felt that it was excessive. When you are going to a mission all these jack offs keep attacking you on the road. Even if your reputation is high. Now tell me, why would they attack you if they were afraid of you?

What is worse, is that say, you just clear out a guard-post. Then you come back, a short time later. And already it is fully staffed. WTF? There would not be that many people. Every time you got to a mission it is crawling with enemies. Why would all these places have so many guards?

The A.I. is also often cheap. One dumbass, will have mortar, or and RPG. To take out one man…right.

What is the point of these so called, sandbox games, that have a reputation system, if it rarely effects the game. It would have been so easy to implement. Just get attacked less, as you reputation grows. How hard is that?

The game has some minor bugs and glitches. That can get very annoying. If with the updates.

This game can be very tedious. As it follows the same basic patterns per mission. Say that you let your buddy help you out. At the end of the mission, you always have to bail them out of trouble. Every single time. Which makes the game to repetitive.

The Bottom Line
Overall, Far Cry 2, is a step in the right direction. For the genre. But there is lots of room for improvement. Of course I don’t think that this style of style of FPS will replace the tried and true type. Hell, they still make games like Painkiller and Serious Sam, to this day, and that is the very first type of FPS. If you are an FPS junkie like myself, you should at least give Far Cry 2 a go.

The Good
I loved the fact that it was set in Africa, and had a real African flavour. Thanks to the makers for consulting with Afrikaners and Zulus and using authentic voice overs.

Understanding the languages makes the speech so much more funny and interesting, and often I'd get shot up cos I couldn't stop laughing at the comments coming from the mercs!!

The sniper rifles were awesome and the being able to burn veld fires to chase and burn the peasants at road blocks was cool...

Graphics are beautiful and cover different ecosystems, that is forest, desert, lakes, Savannah.

Weapons are authentic (The AK47's shouldn't jam though) I enjoyed the fact that there was FAL Paratroop rifle (South African touch there) although a Paratroop rifle should have a shortened barrel and folding stock.

The Bad
The game gets a bit much having to drive endless km's shooting re spawning mercs at road blocks and often having to runaway by foot after your vehicle is destroyed!.

Missions that are kilometers away from the starting point are irritating, especially if it takes a few seconds to complete them and then in some cases having to return to the starting point, dodging shooting and driving over mercs in the process. Its get a bit much after a few missions.

The treasure hunt for cases is stupid and pointless, you climb mountains swim lakes etc.. to get a suitcase with just 1 diamond in it! you can't even buy a 9mm with that.

Came across some African Buffalo in the game, pity they didn't attack, you can walk up to them and literally pet them, i challenge anyone to do that in real life. Should have been able to exploit the wild game in the game, that is shoot Zebra, Wildebeest and Springbok for skins, for diamonds.. Earn diamonds from this. Why not! in war in Africa everything gets exploited especially the wildlife!, No elephants though, probably already been shot out by the waring clans.

The Bottom Line
Very original, fun to play, although it can become monotonous and boring at some stages with all the driving, running and swimming, it's simple, save the game and do something else and within a few hours you will be itching to put your hands on the Machine gun mounted on the jeep and shooting the #%#$^ out of another check point.

The Good
I liked the idea behind the game. Unfortunately...

The Bad
... it just doesn't work.

From the absolutely horrible and most annoying rapidly re-spawning enemy AI ever to feature in a video game, the immersion breaking "town" which contains six mercenaries and a priest, the maze-like map and right down to stupid details like road signs coloring to indicate which path to take (as if the ever-present GPS and a detailed interactive map weren't enough). It just doesn't work.

The Bottom Line
Here's some selective commentary on the typical Far Cry 2 session.

You arrive back into the "town" and check the map for a triangle with an exclamation point (indicating quest givers). This will invariably be one of the two faction HQ's for the main missions. You arrive at the door and all your weapons are removed by the guard to prevent you from ending the game early, upon which you ascend the stairs and listen to the mission details. You then either accept or refuse, although you have to accept to progress in the game, making the choice rather pointless. The faction leader then gives you twenty diamonds and tells you that it's a super secret cover ops mission, so don't expect any helps from his troops. In fact, he says, they will actively engage you. This is in a way convenient since there's no way to distinguish, visually or otherwise, between the two sides anyway. There are no civilians whatsoever anyway.

You hoof it back to your vehicle or take a conveniently placed re-spawning town vehicle and immediately get a call from your best buddy to meet him in some safe house or another. You check the map. Oh great, your friend is on one side of the map, and the mission objective on the other? Oh well, lets go. Wow, this car sure feels like a spaceship. Is that a shack I see at the end of the bridge? Suddenly, machine gun fire everywhere. A second after you pass the checkpoint you're being pursued by an amazingly fast accelerating assault truck that's carrying a gunner who hits you with sniper-like accuracy with a heavy machine gun, all while speeding down Africa's dirt roads at 90 mph. The inhuman assault truck never ever gives up.

Okay, you made it to your friend's safe house at the other side of the map either by destroying five assault trucks or stalking through Africa walking or swimming. Your friend tells you how she would like you to alter your mission to suit her. Why exactly couldn't you have told me this over the phone?

Ten assault trucks later, you arrive at your mission objective. You snipe (sniping is easy, no bullet drop, perfect aim, always a kill) a few stupid enemies, throw a couple of grenades and it's over in a minute. After this pseudo-climax, you feel very empty and alone.

But wait, your friend calls you. She's in trouble just a bit off the objective. You rush to help her, kill a couple more stupid AIs and you're presented with a menu option "press X to medicate your best buddy" and "press Q to mercy kill your best buddy".

You press escape, click on Quit, click Quit in the main menu, confirm that yes, you do want to Quit and are thrown onto the desktop. You bask in the ineffable complexity of situations which bothered to publish this trash.